'Power hungry' Iowa governor to hold 'drastic' special session for anti-abortion law: report

05 July 2023

Just weeks after the Iowa Supreme Court blocked the state's 6-week abortion ban, Governor Kim Reynolds (R) remains determined to pass restrictive abortion laws.

According to NBC, the court's decision to block the legislation, made way for "the procedures to remain legal until about the 20th week of pregnancy."

Reynolds released a statement Wednesday, according to CNN, saying she will hold "a special legislative session next week for the sole task of passing abortion restrictions."

Per CNN, Iowa Senator Pam Jochum (D) said the GOP leader's decision "was expected" — however, emphasizing, "This attack on reproductive healthcare is opposed by a large majority of Iowans. Senate Democrats will be fighting for that majority on the Senate floor next week, and we call on every Iowan to join us."

Likewise, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa director of public affairs, Mazie Stilwell, added, “A growing majority of Iowans support abortion access. Make no mistake—we are prepared to mobilize supporters across the state to demand state legislators reject any proposed abortion ban or further restrictions on abortion care."

Stillwell said Reynolds' decision to hold a special session is "drastic," calling the governor and supportive state Republicans "power hungry."

CNN reports the session will take place Tuesday, July 11, according to the governor's office, "with the sole purpose of enacting legislation that addresses abortion and protects unborn lives."

Last month, ABC News reported Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman wrote in the court's ruling, "The State appealed [the January 2019 ruling], and now asks our court to do something that has never happened in Iowa history: to simultaneously bypass the legislature and change the law, to adopt rational basis review, and then to dissolve an injunction to put a statute into effect for the first time in the same case in which that very enactment was declared unconstitutional years earlier."

CNN's full report is available at this link.

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